Persepolis : The Story of a Childhood

[daurigon]

Hello,

This is my first time posting on this forum so I thought I should ask about one of my favorite novels (actually a graphic novel) called Persepolis. I found entire novel to be captivating story of Marjane Satrapi's experiences growing up in Tehran, Iran. The experiening the eventual fall of the Shah of Iran, the Islamic Revolution, and war between Iraq and Iran really sculpted Satrapi to the person she would become later in life. I understand that throughout the novel, Marji attempts to figure out her identity while at the same time trying to preserve it.

But there are somethings about the book that I have yet to understand and I was hoping that maybe someone here could potentially give me some insight on the questions I have.


Questions :

1) Why is this graphic novel called Persepolis? I understand that Persepolis relates to the ancient Iranian city but why name the graphic novel after this? How are the title and the novel connected?

2) How does the author utilize the conventions of the graphic novel genre to communicate the significance of Persepolis both to Iran and to Marji?

3) How does Marji's story relate to the history of Iran? An extension of this question is how is Persepolis and Marji connected (other than this book being her autobiography of her life accounts in Iran)

4) How would you parallel Persepolis to Marji?

Your thoughts?

[Kosmex5]

I'm so glad you mentioned this book-it's one of my favorites as well. I could be wrong but my impression of Persopolis is the idealized version of Iran that Marjane carries in her memories, or perhaps the way it existed in her mind before the revolution..a once great civilization fallen to ruin.

P.S: Persopolis fans really need to see the animated film. It stays true to the overall concept and I think you'll really enjoy it. I rented it on Netflix.

[acomden]

This was actually a two volume comic book written about the author's experiences in Iran during a time of war. She vividly describes what life was like for her and is able to show the reader through the drawings how terrible it was. She covers topics from how it affected her personally to how the world as a whole reacted to their government and its regimes.

Overall, it was a pretty interesting read, but I think it ended rather abruptly and didn't conclude very well. It started out more like a story and then ended like a memoir. Either way, there wasn't much of a conclusion to it.

[gadje]

I loved this book and still think of it often. It was an eye opening experience of a family just like my own and a girl similar to my age living in revolutionary Iran. It was a peek inside another culture (in another world) and how her thoughts, beliefs, actions & interests are similar to mine despite gun battles happening in front of her house and the realization that her close girlfriend and family are not coming back due to a bomb dropped on their house.